TOPIC: Firewire/USB Audio Interfaces? (on the cheap?)

I'd initially planned to try using a super-cheap Behringer UCA202 USB audio interface for RPM this year. Basically, these are RCA-jack single input audio interfaces for people that want to rip vinyl/cassette tapes: no phantom power, no preamps, no fancy software configuration tool that looks like a piece of rackmount equipment. Just unbalanced RCA outs and an 1/8" stereo headphone jack, using USB bus for power.
It is also supposed to run great on Linux and Mac in addition to no-driver-to-install Windows support, which is always a plus. And at $30 you can't complain much about the lack of features.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of other people thought these would be a good idea to grab in January before RPM Challenge: Amazon has estimated the order for one of these will ship on March 5th. (That, or these are shipping individually from China / Germany / wherever or something ridiculous, but I can't see that working)

So I ask you, RPM Challengers, what audio interfaces should I look into getting?(making sure to rushed shipping this time, I suppose).

Both the machines I want to record on have Firewire 400, and I'd prefer that as I've got pesky things like keyboards and external HDDs hanging off the USB bus.

Obviously the next step in cheapness is the $99 Behringer Firewire interface, but all the places I can see online aren't shipping that immediately either.

Don't know if I can justify stepping up to something expensive like the Presonus at $199.

Just got mine, upgrading from a busted-ass Presonus Firestation hand-me-down.

The Firewire Solo is fantastic... I've only been using it two weeks but I'm in love. Works great with Logic Studio on Mac.

I'm an M-Audio fan. And I'm a Sweetwater fan.

For the same price, the Presonus Inspire 1394 has two XLR inputs with their own preamps+phantom power, which might be good to record acoustic guitar with two mics, or record singing and guitar at the same time. And two additional non-preamp/powered inputs.

Sorry, not trying to be difficult here. Just trying to find something that's in a price range somewhere between the $30 Behringer stuff and the $200 M-Audio/Presonus stuff. Also curious to hear all the available alternatives before I make a decision.

I guess it's such a small market segment ($100-150USD prosumer audio interfaces) that there's no products yet, though. Lots of 'plug yer geetar in' USB interfaces from what I can see, but I need the 24bit/48kHz (ideally 96kHz! ), XLR inputs and low latency.

(Edit: Sorry for the doublepost. Edited them together, deleting other post)

Was that mixer a straight-up mixer, or did it do extra stuff like store tracks that you could mix back into the computer? And then did you have a lot of sources going into it, or were you basically just using it to have XLR interfaces or something?

I'm just a little curious about the mixing board + computer setup... because it's not obvious to me why a mixing board is a useful thing to connect to a computer, but clearly lots of people do it.

Straight-up Behringer Eurorack. I had multiple instruments and mics going into it at once, and used panning to record "multitrack" when necessary (not often).

The only reason that I had to connect the mixer to the computer was to get the sound into the computer with ease. Plugging and unplugging single mics and instruments into a single jack in the back of a machine is a waste of time, and trying to futz with the input lever for each one of those instruments is a losing battle. Better to set all that up on a mixer outside of the machine, in my opinion, and then when you grab your bass, or your acoustic, you already have the levels preset on one of the channels.

@natphtawinters: I have that same TubeMP, and it definitely does wonders.

My opinion on buying gear is, if you need it and can afford it, buy it. If it's JUST for RPM, I don't think there's a real reason to buy new or expensive gear. RPM is a very forgiving creature, and we're more interested in music quality than sound quality, at the end of the day.

My opinion on buying gear is, if you need it and can afford it, buy it. If it's JUST for RPM, I don't think there's a real reason to buy new or expensive gear. RPM is a very forgiving creature, and we're more interested in music quality than sound quality, at the end of the day.

True, but I doubt the quality of the macmini's line-in, and latency is an issue. Figured that if I don't sort out an audio interface, I won't be recording anything at all.

naphthawinters wrote:True, but I doubt the quality of the macmini's line-in, and latency is an issue. Figured that if I don't sort out an audio interface, I won't be recording anything at all.

Confirm or resolve the doubt through experimentation before deciding what you need. I can almost guarantee you that the Mac Mini has better sound hardware and makes less noise than the computer I recorded most of our album into last year. Now, that experience drove me to buy a recorder I could use in a different room, but it basically worked. Jess' iBook makes pretty reasonable recordings with its tiny internal mic once noise reduction is applied.

I'm just a little curious about the mixing board + computer setup... because it's not obvious to me why a mixing board is a useful thing to connect to a computer, but clearly lots of people do it.

The major upside is that unless you're using something designed to multitrack into your computer (by this I mean, keeping your tracks separate) the mixer lets you get all your leveling and panning done before its in the software. Lots of USB-type 'mixers' and other such input devices merge your separate channels into one track on the computer. Which is jive for some people and absolutely out of the question for others. It saves you the step of having to record each bit individually in a multi-person/instrument setup, but I suppose is somewhat useless if you're one person, anyway.

Besides, for me, I like the 'analog' interface of sliders and such. The mixer before the computer just adds a little more control.

I'm kind of keen to try mic'ing acoustic guitars with two mics, and possibly adding a mic for my vocals to that (it may just be easier for me to record vocals on another track, after the fact, though).

Just thinking that with the two mic -> mixer -> one channel into computer setup, you'd either have to pan one mic hard left and one hard right so that you can mix them 'separately' on the computer in the mix, or you'd have to get them mixed just right on the mixer and be happy with whatever the computer ends up with.

We'll see. I guess my next paycheck dictates whether I'll be able to grab a firewire interface or try to work with what I'm limited by in February.

I use a konnekt 8 firewire interface from t.c. electronic. I adore it. It's about the same price as the more expensive device you were looking at, but it really is excellent in terms of quality and reliability.

I got a Tascam US-122L interface that came in a "Track Pack" for christmas. It was about 200 bucks and it also includes a nice microphone, monitoring headphones, along with Cubase LE4 and Ableton Live Lite 6 (with a free upgrade to Lite 7). I actually prefer the Ableton software, even though its limited to 4 effects and 8 tracks. The interface works great, it has 2 line in inputs, and 2 mic inputs, along with midi in/out and RCA out (for monitoring) I haven't had any real noticable latency issues, and it runs great.

I'm another M-Audio fan. I am currently using the DIO 2496 audio card for the monitors. But the primary unit is the Mbox / ProTools setup that is USB. I bought before last years challenge and its been the best I've used so far. Its not very big, but I can only play one instrument at a time anyway. The whole kit with ProTools LE and the hardware was 250.00. Easy to setup, ProTools however has a fairly steep learning curve.